Golf: Ryan Fox into the mix after fine round

Golfer Ryan Fox. Photo / Icon Sportswire

Kiwi golfer Ryan Fox has leapt into contention at the Abu Dhabi Championship after a fine round.

In his first European Tour event for 2018, Fox carded a second-round six-under 66 to move to eight-under for the tournament, in a share of 11th place. He jumped up 26 spots on the leaderboard with one of the rounds of the day, firing early with three birdies in his first four holes.

An eagle on the eighth hole saw him make the turn at five-under, before a mixed back nine saw him fluctuate on the leaderboard.

Fox briefly shot into the top 10, before a double-bogey on the par four 16th, but he made up for his mistake, ending with back-to-back birdies to move back into the mix.

Fox is four shots off the lead, held by Belgium's Thomas Pieters ahead of a field of big-name players.

Fifteen of the world's top 50 players are at the lucrative event, and the likes of Rory McIlroy and Paul Casey (nine-under) and Dustin Johnson (eight-under) all moved into contention yesterday.

World No. 1 Johnson shook off the jet lag after his ragged opening-round 72 to shoot a bogey-free eight-under 64, tied for the low round of the tournament. He won by eight shots two weeks ago at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.

"It was pretty easy for a 64. I did everything really well. I drove it well. I hit a lot of really good iron shots," Johnson said.

"I hit a lot of good putts that didn't go in the hole from pretty close range, but all day, I gave myself really good chances for birdies. Yeah, it was pretty stress-free."

McIlroy, playing his first event since October, finished with an eagle on the par-five 18th to card a 66. The former world No. 1 is coming off a winless 2017 and plans a busy schedule in the run-up to the Masters. He's a four-time runner-up in Abu Dhabi.

"It was nice to finish with a three, leapfrog a few guys and get myself into contention for the weekend."